istory of
Rigs-to-Reefs (RTR) Offshore Florida
Recycling retired natural gas and oil structures
(platforms) as artificial reefs has proven to be an effective tool for fishery
management. Fish, fishermen, divers, fishing support industries, coastal
communities, the petroleum industry, and others have all benefited when retired
and obsolete production platforms, already popular with offshore fishermen, are
reevaluated and converted for continued use as fishery enhancement resources in
the marine environment. To date approximately 195 petroleum structures have
been donated and converted to permanent reefs (i.e. RTR) in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).
The first planned conversion of a decommissioned gas and
oil structure occurred in 1979 with the relocation of an Exxon experimental
sub-sea template from offshore Louisiana to a permitted artificial reef site
offshore Franklin County, Florida. Subsequently decommissioned oil and gas
platforms have been deployed at four reef complexes offshore three Florida
counties (see Table below).
County |
Reef Name |
Description |
Deployed
|
Depth
|
Relief |
Franklin |
Exxon Template |
Sub-sea Template |
1979 |
106ft. |
40ft. |
Escambia |
Tenneco Platform |
Jacket and Deck |
1982 |
175ft. |
80ft. |
Dade/Broward |
Tenneco Site |
3 Platform Jackets |
1985 |
100ft. |
40ft. |
Dade/Broward |
Tenneco Deep Site |
2 Platform Jackets |
1985 |
190ft. |
75ft. |
Escambia |
Chevron Platform |
2 Platform Jackets |
1993 |
137ft. |
80ft. |
Decommissioned oil and gas
structures however do not represent a significant component of Florida’s
artificial reef program. There are reportedly over 1,650 public reef sites off
Florida’s coast with obsolete petroleum energy structure at only five of these
sites.
Offshore Florida’s Panhandle in Escambia, Okaloosa, and Bay
Counties are seven large artificial reef areas which are presently permitted to
accept petroleum energy structures, and are geographically closest to areas of
active oil and gas production in the central GOM. Furthermore, the Panhandle of
Florida is the only Florida coastal area that has a strong local interest among
recreational fishermen, and charter and dive boat operators in securing
platforms for artificial reefs.
In Florida, local governments in the coastal counties
initiate reef development and act as both project managers and permit holders.
Coastal counties usually spend funds to acquire artificial reef materials.
However, local coastal governments lack the funding resources to independently
pay for the high cost of transportation of petroleum structures from the central GOM where there is an excess of retired and decommissioned platforms available
for reefs.
In the past petroleum platforms for reefs were donated to
Florida cost-free, and the donor (oil and gas companies) paid for relocating the
structure to waters offshore Florida for artificial reef use. In 1993, for
example an oil and gas company paid an estimated $168,000 to transport a
platform jacket from offshore Louisiana to waters offshore Pensacola, Florida.
In 1997, active solicitation of and providing funding for retired
petroleum energy structures at the state level by one office within the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection (i.e. Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission) was deemed to be inappropriate when other offices in
the same Department were dealing with permitting, environmental impact
statements, and other issues related to proposed oil and gas production offshore
Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Political and policy issues relating to oil and gas
production offshore Florida have resulted in no active pursuit of retired and
decommissioned petroleum structures as artificial reef in Florida since 1997.
No actual donations of petroleum structure have been accepted by or offered to
Florida since 1993.
Unlike other materials historically used in the Florida
artificial reef program, none of the Florida RTR structures have evidenced any
storm-induced damages or significant deterioration since their deployment as
reefs. The Exxon Template structure withstood Hurricane Kate in 1985. The
Tenneco or Chevron platform reefs offshore Pensacola were neither moved nor
damaged by Hurricanes Opal and Erin in 1995. The only storm damage noted to any
of the RTR placed in Florida waters was a bent platform jacket leg on one RTR
structure resulting from the passage of Hurricane Andrew (1992), a massive
Category Four Hurricane.